The black house (Gaelic : tigh ubh) is a traditional type of house which used to be common in Highland Scotland, the Hebrides, Ireland and areas of Gaelic settlement in Nova Scotia. It was generally built with double wall dry-stone walls packed with earth and wooden rafters covered with a turf roof, although reed thatch was occasionally used as the roofing material. The floor was generally flagstones or packed earth and there was a central hearth for the fire. There was no chimney for the smoke to escape though. Instead the smoke made its way through the roof.